[No.  G.:::::::::.*:::LEGiSLATuaii  of  NokttJ  CAHOtWA.:::i:^::;li;l85l.] 


ON 

INCORPORATING 


THE 


RALEIGH: 
Printers  to  the  State, 


1831. 


REPORT. 


The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  "a  bill  to  incorporate  the  Meckleiw 
burg  Gold  Mining  Company,"  having  had  the  same  under  consideration, 
respectfully  report, 

That,  in  the  very  threshold  of  their  investigation,  they  have  been  forcibly 
impressed  with  the  growing  importance  of  the  mining  interest  in  North  Ca- 
rolina. Within  a  few  years  past,  it  has  attracted  much  of  public  attention, 
anjj  with  those  who  have  bestowed  some  reflection  on  the  subject,  it  has 
been  the  source  of  a  lively  hope  that  the  developement  of  her  mineral  trea- 
sures will  contribute,  in  no  ordinary  degree,  to  improve  the  hitherto  de-. 
pressed  condition  of  our  State.  Already  have  the  mines  afforded  much 
public  good,  as  well  as  private  prosperity.  They  have  been  largely  instru- 
mental in  the  restoration  of  a  sound  monied  circulation,  so.  desirable  to  eve-, 
ry  portion  of  the  community.  By  their  assistance,  our  banking  institutions 
have,  at  all  times  since  their  successful  operation,  been  enabled  to  procure 
funds  and  a  redeeming  capital,  which  had  the  ability  to  sustain  their  cur-: 
rency.  A  large  addition  has  been  made  to  the  active  capital  of  the  State, 
both  in  the  way  of  investment  and  in  the  amount  actually  rendered  by  the 
mines.  This  benefit  has  been  felt  by  all.  But  the  mining  district  of  the 
State  has,  in  a  peculiar  manner,  been  indebted  to  their  discovery  and  ope- 
ration for  much  prosperity,  and  her  extrication  from  difficulties  and  embar- 
rassments, which  were  sorely  felt  in  common,  at  one  period,  by  every  sec- 
tion of  the  State,  and  which  wrere  ruinous  and  inevitable.  Every  branch 
and  exertion  of  industry  have  received  their  rewards.  The  productions  of 
agriculture  and  the  various  improvements  of  art  have  met  with  a  liberal  en- 
couragement; the  value  of  real  property  enhanced;  the  disposition  to  emi- 
grate checked;  bankrupt  individuals  restored  to  competence  and  fortune; 
agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts  improved;  high  prices  for  labor  and  con- 
stant employment;  a  home  market  furnished;  enterprize  stimulated;  few 
debts;  an  increased  attention  to  the  comforts  of  domestic  life;  education 
diffused;  liberality  of  public  sentiment;  improvement  in  the  habits  of  so- 
ciety; population  increased;  and  new  fields  opened  to  adventurers  for  for- 
tune and  fame:  These  are  some  of  the  benefits  that,  under  the  influence 
of  the  mines,  have  diffused  themselves  among  every  class  of  the  communi- 
ty, like  blood  through  the  animated  system. 

But  there  is  another  view  in  which  the  mining  interest  may  be  regarded 
with  anxious  concern,  and  which  ought,  in  the  estimation  of  your  commit- 
tee, to  be  the  foundation  of  a  liberal  policy  extended  to  mining  enterprize 
in  the  State.  Various  causes  have  combined,  for  several  years,  to  render 
labor  applied  to  the  ordinary  staples  of  the  South  of  less  value  than  before. 
These  causes,  it  is  feared,  will  continue  to  operate  with  additional  force. 
With  the  increase  of  population,  and  the  probable  diminution  in  the  value 
of  slave  property,  the  application  of  labor  in  the  same  channel  will  necessa- 
rily diminish  the  price  of  Southern  staples.  All  surplus  labor  on  any  one 
branch  must  be  diverted.  In  this  state  of  things,  and  under  disadvantages 
peculiar  to  a  people  who  are  without  a  large  foreign  commerce — without 
roads  and  canals — without  a  cash  home  market — without  manufactures,  and 
deprived  of  many  other  sources  of  national  aggrandisement,  the  discovery 


3 

ami  developement  of  the  mines  will  open  a  new,  extensive  and  fertile  field 
for  individual  and  public  enterprise,  for  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  our 
State. 

From  these  facts  and  reasons,  and  from  every  other  consideration  that 
your  committee  have  been  enabled  to  bestow  on  the  subject,  they  are  con- 
vinced that  it  would  be  good  policy  to  cherish,  with  a  prompt  and  liberal 
encouragement,  the  mining  operations  of  the  State.  This  can  only  be  ef- 
fected by  inducing  an  investment  of  sufficient  capital,  either  domestic  or 
foreign,  or  both,  for  that  purpose.  For  however  substantial  the  benefits 
may  have  been  which  have  hitherto  been  derived  from  this  source,  yet  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  previous  expenditure  in  mining  has  been  chiefly  by 
way  of  experiment;  and  that  the  present  condition  of  the  operations  urges 
the'  adoption  of  some  new  system*  by  which  the  mines  may  be  wrought 
under  more  favorable  auspices. 

Your  committee  presume  it  will  not  be  questioned  that  mining  prosecu- 
tions will  rarely,  if  ever,  be  attempted  by  individuals  singty,  and  without 
aid  from  associates  in  the  undertaking.  It  has  never  been  done  to  any  pro- 
fitable extent  in  this  country;  and  in  richer  and  older  countries,  where 
wealth  is  often  overgrown,  and  is  not  distributed  with  so  equal  a  hand  as 
here,  all  experience  has  demonstrated  that  private  and  unassisted  opulence, 
however  immense,  has  never  been  devoted  to  the  exploration  of  the  mines, 
and  would  be  wholly  inadequate  to  the  object. 

This  remark  applies,  with  additional  reason,  to  all  "vein  mines,"  which 
must  be  sought  for,  if  successfully,  to  great  depth  and  at  great  expense; 
and  which1",  while  they  are  always  the  most  permanent  and  profitable,  are 
at  the  same  time  the  most  expensive.  This  is  the  class  now  seeking  Legis- 
lative assistance. 

The  insufficiency  of  individual  capital  is  owing,  also,  to  the  very  uncer- 
tain and  hazardous  character  of  all  mining  cnterprize — a  character  which 
has  ever  been  proverbial.  Some  untoward  event  may  disappoint  the  best 
grounded  hope,  and  frustrate  the  wisest  calculations.  This  has  already 
been  experienced  in  North  Carolina  and  in  every  mining  country,  and  is 
more  especially  the  case  when  some  progress  is  made;  when  water  is  reach- 
ed; when  fortifications  and  other  defences  are  indispensable;' and  when, 
without  consummate  skill,  every  day  subjects  the  proprietors  to  accidents 
which  may  annihilate  the  most  sanguine  anticipations. 

Your  committee,  then,  are  justified  in  affirming  that  an  association  of 
individuals,  in  some  way  or  other,  is  absolutely  requisite  for  the  security 
of  capital  invested  for  mining  purposes;  and  that  every  prudent  man  would 
I  embark  in  such  perilous  and  costly  undertakings  only  such  sum  as  he  could 
[sacrifice  without  placing  his  whole  fortune  in  jeopardy.  Of  such  associa- 
tions, there  are  but  two  kinds,  either  corporate  or  copartnership  associations. 
To  the  latter,  the  reasons  which  are  to  bo  found  in  the  hazard  and  immense 
expenditure  of  mining  offer  an  insurmountable  barrier;  and  the  objections; 
are  magnified  when  connected  with  the  legal  liabilities  of  a  partnership* 
The  profits,  too,  in  a  copartnership,  are  not  at  all  proportioned  to  the  risk 
run.  No  matter  in  what  degree  a  person  may  be  interested  in  such  a  con- 
cern, if  it  be  but  for  one  cent,  or  to  thousands  of  dollars,  he  is  responsi- 
ble for  all  the  contracts,  and  subject  to  all  the  misfortunes  of  the  company, 
however  numerous,  or  however  various  their  interests.  A  variety  of  casu- 
alties may  expose  the  richest  partner  to  poverty  and  utter  ruia.    No  one 


trill  adventure  in  an  enterprlzc  so  expensive  and  uncertain,  and  where  he 
may  be  liable  to  the  mismanagement  and  indiscretion  of  a  distant  superin- 
tendent, and  where  he  risks  net  only  the  amount  originally  invested,  but 
his  whole  estate.  In  a  partnership,  also,  the  death,  or  any  legal  disability 
of  any  party,  however  numerous  the  association,  dissolves  the  concern; 
and  a  transfer  of  his  interest  will  not  free  him  of-  his  liability.  There  is 
scarcely  a  possibility  of-  its  duration  for  any  length  of  time;  and  new  and 
intricate  rights  and  duties  are  constantly  springing  up.  Your  committee, 
therefore,  are  satisfied  that  partnership  associations  do  not  afford  facilities 
and  inducements  to  capitalists  to  incline  them  to  invest  in  any  degree  pro- 
portioned to  the  richness  of  our  mines,  or  to  the  importance  of  the  policy 
which  it  is  so  vitally  our  interest  to  promote. 

The  objections  adverted  to,  do  not  hold  in  relation  to  corporate  bodies. 
The  stockholder  is  liable  only  to  the  amount  of  his  subscription,  and  may 
transfer  his  interest  without  endangering  his  private  fortune.  The  existence 
of  the  corporation,  too,  is  not  subject  to  chance.  So  essential  is  some  prin- 
ciple of  this  kind,  that  in  all  extensive  mining  countries,  adventurers  arc 
secured  in  these  privileges  by  the  general  law. 

There  is  at  this  time  in  the  U.  States  a  vast  amount  of  surplus  capital, 
winch  will  be  much  increased  by  the  extinction  of  the  national  debt,  that  would 
be  directed  to  mining;  and  by  being  spent  among  us,  wrould  necessarily  ad- 
vance the  general  prosperity.  Your  committee,  therefore,  recommend  the 
policy  of  incorporation  for  mining  objects,  under  such  restrictions  and  re- 
gulations as  the  Legislature,  in  its  wisdom,  may  think  fit  to  impose,  and 
not  incompatible  with  the  proper  and  essential  rights  of  the  corporators. 
For  it  becomes  the  duty  of  the  pow  er  granting  the  concession,  to  secure 
the  object  contemplated  without  injuring  the  community.  Mining  in  North. 
Carolina  is  yet  in  its  infancy;  and*  even  in  its  infancy,  the  large  amount  of 
capital  already  expended  has  given  an  impulse  clearly  perceptible  in  the  ad- 
vancement of  her  interests*  Policy  dictates  the  continuance  of  this  im- 
pulse. It  has  been  said,  with  much  propriety,  that  "  the  precious  metals 
can  never  glut  the  market,  nor  mining  for  them  be  overdone."  There  can 
be  no  monopoly.  Every  establishment  is  useful  to  its  neighbor;  and  every 
introduction  and  investment  of  capital,  w  hether  successful  or  not,  constitute 
an  important  addition  to  the  common  stock. 

Your  committee  are  deterred,  by  the  length  of  their  report,  from  the 
prosecution  of  an  inquiry  which  might  be  usefully  extended. 

In  the  bill  immediately  under  their  consideration,  they  are  satisfied  that 
the  rights  of  the  corporators  and  the  interests  of  the  community  are  equal- 
ly indemnified;  and,  with  some  slight  amendment,  which  will  be  offered, 
they  recommend  its  passage  into  a  law,  and  believe  that  its  rejection  would 
prove  injurious  to  the  best  interests  of  North  Carolina. 
All  which  3*  rpspectfullv  sabnutted. 

I).  M.  P.ARRINGER,  Chmn. 


